16 THROUGH ANGOLA 



to hustle him away. It was growing dark, the 

 sun had set in a glory of reds and yellows, turning 

 to purple and grey, so we started to scramble down 

 the steep cliff to our cave by the sea. 



About fifty or sixty goats had been seen during 

 the day, and the great majority had been of the 

 same brown colour as the two shot. Some, how- 

 ever, were of a lighter tint, but still carried the 

 dark saddle marking and back stripe of the brown 

 goat. The does were generally brown, though one 

 or two were almost black in colour. The kids 

 were usually light fawn, a few were grey. 



There is some evidence of protective colora- 

 tion and reversion to the wild type in the mark- 

 ings and colour of the goat of the Desertas, which 

 continues to approximate more closely to that of 

 the rocks among which he lives ; the black-and- 

 white animals are being eliminated, possibly 

 through their conspicuousness ; and the rock- 

 coloured goat is now the dominant type. Unable 

 to sleep for thirst (our remaining water supply had 

 become tainted), I lay awake listening to the cry 

 of hundreds of gulls and puffins, indignant perhaps 

 at an intrusion into their lonely island home. 



We managed next day to attract the attention 

 of the lugger's crew, who brought us fresh water, 

 and carried our blankets and food up the cliffs to 

 the valley, while we hunted the higher ground 

 which lies above it ; first stalking a herd which 

 contained no good head and was left in peace, and 

 then a big goat in what I called the " goblin 

 country," a land of deep gullies and weird columns 

 of red sand, mixed with round volcanic stones. 



